Last year, the Cleveland Department of Public Health’s Division of Air Quality received 492 complaints from residents about weird odors, smoke, asbestos, and dust from construction sites in their neighborhoods. 

The city’s air quality division enforces state and local air pollution regulations throughout Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. When the division receives a complaint from residents, an inspector investigates and gathers more details from one of the 13 air-quality sensors located in the region. 

Now, the division is taking a new, resident-led approach to expand its network of air-quality sensors, understand how to better serve residents with their concerns, and gather real-time air data in Cleveland’s neighborhoods. 

The city’s health department is looking for six Cleveland residents to serve as air ambassadors for its first community-led project, Community Leveraged Expanded Air Network in Cleveland (CLEANinCLE). The goal is to expand monitoring to historically redlined neighborhoods that have poor health outcomes, due in part to air pollution, according to the department’s website. (Redlining is the discriminatory banking practice of denying loans in low-income neighborhoods.)

A neighborhood-based approach to air quality monitoring

Air ambassadors will gather input from their neighbors about air pollution concerns, learn about air quality topics such as climate research and health, and help decide where to place 30 new air sensors throughout Cleveland and one mobile monitoring unit. 

Ambassadors will earn $1,200 for their time on the project with a commitment of five hours per month. Applicants must be at least 18 years old and live in the city. No expertise in air quality is required. Applications are due Jan. 28. 

“Residents are the ones who often want to know what’s happening on their street and neighborhood when they call into the department to ask us to inspect,” said Christina Yoka, chief of air pollution outreach in the city’s Division of Air Quality. “Now, there’s an opportunity for people to directly understand our work and how we can serve them through our programs and services.” 

The new sensors from the project will be placed in neighborhoods to help identify air pollution that the division’s 13 monitors may be missing, Yoka said. The sensors will show hot spots and help the division’s enforcement staff respond to complaints. 

Federal grant made project possible

In 2022, the city’s health department was one of 131 groups to receive a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enhance air quality monitoring. The grant went directly into developing this project, Yoka said. 

The project is a partnership with Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, Better Health Partnership, Case Western Reserve University, and Cleveland Clinic Respiratory Institute. The health department will share the data with local hospitals so they can help come up with solutions to respond to respiratory health issues such as asthma. 

Yoka said air ambassadors will also help develop an online dashboard that will display near-real-time data on air pollution hotspots. The portal will display what the sensors are reading and be easy for residents to understand. 

“The data will be for everyone,” Yoka said. “It will be an innovative way for us to make sure we can utilize our services and programs in the city to serve residents better.”

The Cleveland Division of Air Quality takes calls at any time about odors, smoke, open burning or fumes anywhere in Cuyahoga County. Call 216-664-7442, the Air Quality Complaint Hotline, to report your concern.